Israeli security forces search through the rubble after the Hamas attack, looking for remains of bones and traces of DNA. Photo: Kyrre Lien / VG
SOUTHERN ISRAEL (VG) Israeli soldiers are hoping for a further ground invasion, while the residents of Gaza are holding their breath.
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There are family photos on the floor, while the food is out on the kitchen table.
Time has stood still since the fierce Hamas attack on October 7, when heavily armed Hamas fighters broke out of the barbed wire fence surrounding Gaza and stormed Israeli towns.
In Kibbutz Be’eri, around 70 armed Hamas fighters attacked, before killing around 130 Israelis, the vast majority of whom were civilians.
On Wednesday, four new Israelis were found dead in the ruins.
At the same time, Israel’s response to that decisive day has only just begun, they say.
Because while VG is inside the kibbutz on Wednesday this week, constant drones are heard from artillery firing into Gaza, while fighter jets and drones fly in the air.
Night to Saturday Israel carried out massive attacks against the besieged exclave.
Also on Saturday, there were reports of heavy explosions and fighting inside Gaza.
At the same time, neither aid organizations nor the media are able to get in touch with people on the ground, because the internet and telephone lines are down.
Follow developments in the Israel-Gaza war live here.
Photo: Kyrre Lien / VG Photo: Kyrre Lien / VG
– We are ordinary people who want to live in peace, but we can’t when they kill us, says Oriel.
He himself lives in the kibbutz, and was among those who survived the Hamas attack on 7 October.
– They killed and tortured ordinary people here. What happened is indescribable.
At the same time, he issues a warning about Hamas:
– They are everywhere, and maybe eventually they will come to Europe or the USA. Why? We symbolize life, they symbolize death.
He is speaking in front of dozens of journalists who have been given the opportunity to travel to the kibbutz on a trip organized by the Israeli authorities. There are only a few people that VG and the other journalists are allowed to talk to.
Surveillance video shows the moment the first Hamas fighters enter the kibbutz. Photo: South First Responders via Telegram / Reuters / NTB
Flies and death
Hamas fighters’ stated aim of the October 7 attack was to retake Palestinian land from which Palestinians had been expelled when the state of Israel was established.
The means Hamas used were brutal, and Western leaders, including Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, call it a terrorist action.
In the kibbutz lie the ruins of what was once home to the approximately 1,000 inhabitants – families with children, the elderly, young and old.
On the wall, “Hamas” is tagged in Arabic.
Inside one of the low houses, the flies are buzzing.
As one approaches a bedroom at the end of the hall, the smell of death grows even stronger.
The blood has congealed in the mattress, in the corner of the room there are several bullet holes, with blood spatter on the wall nearby.
Photo: Kyrre Lien / VG
– We are looking for remains of bones and personal belongings, says IDF soldier Anjamit.
She and other soldiers work their way through a burnt-out house, looking for a person who is missing.
– It is hard, but I try not to be too affected. But we want to help the families.
At least 1,400 Israelis were killed in the Hamas attack. Israel’s response has so far killed 7,600 Palestinians, including 2,700 children, Palestinian health authorities report.
On Wednesday evening, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said they were still preparing for a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip.
– We all wait for it, and want it to happen, says IDF soldier Anjamit.
At the same time as VG talks to the soldier, tanks roll past. And the heavy artillery drones continue.
Photo: Kyrre Lien / VG
The answer to Gaza
While VG is inside the kibbutz, the father of the family, Khaled Mohammed Ibrahim, is inside Gaza, about a mile away.
The artillery shells and bombs rain down on the coastal strip where he and his family try to stay alive.
– My children are screaming, the bombing continues here in the south even though the occupier said it was a safe place.
He says that they have to transport the injured and killed by donkey and cart because fuel is impossible to obtain.
– I have stood for nine hours in a queue to buy bread, all the while in fear that a bomb might hit me.
Israel has imposed an almost total blockade of electricity, water, fuel, food and medicine into the Gaza Strip.
Khaled Mohammed Ibrahim (33) and his children. Photo: Private
He and his family have now sought refuge together with other acquaintances. 25 people are squeezed into a small apartment, he says.
– There is no electricity, apart from some solar cells. We argue about being allowed to charge our phones so that we can follow the news.
But when they get their phones charged, and rarely have internet, it’s not good news either, he says:
– Every day we see people being killed there, and houses collapsing on the heads of the residents.
– We experience terrible suffering and await death at any moment.
After Israel stepped up the ground war inside Gaza on Friday, it has not been possible to get signs of life from Ibrahim again.
VG’s reporter Kyrre Lien in southern Israel. Photo: VGPublished:
Published: 28.10.23 at 17:53
Updated: 28.10.23 at 18:41
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2023-10-28 15:53:20
#price #war #children #screaming
